Present this certificate to a grandchild to let them know how special they are to you

Download a color or black-and-white certificate to fill in and present to a special grandchild. Use the certificate as part of family celebrations for Grandparents Day or any day!

The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is very special and needs to be nurtured.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead once even stated that connections between the generations are "essential for the mental health and stability of a nation."

The special kind of love a grandchild gets from a grandparent is a love you can't get anywhere else. It's an important kind of love. Parents have to worry about who children will become in the future; their role is to be providers and disciplinarians. Grandparents can just enjoy children for who they are in the moment. The love of a grandparent is often freer, more unconditional, and far less psychologically complex than a parent's love. The love of a parent and the love of a grandparent are different, and both are necessary.

The grandparent/grandchild relationship is, in fact, second in emotional importance only to the parent/child relationship. Just ask a child! One study of school-aged children found that if they were in charge of family vacations, their first choice would be to go to... grandma/grandpa's house – "because it's fun."

Grandparents shouldn't take relationships across generations for granted or undervalue them. This certificate is a little gesture that acknowledges how important grandchildren are.

The certificate says: "You are special to me because…" and has blank lines for you to fill in.

Included on the certificate is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The only true gift is a portion of thyself."

Then there's a space for you to sign the certificate.

Relationships between young and old, between grandparents and grandchildren, are important because they make us feel connected. They make us feel connected not only to each other, but to something bigger, to the flow of life, to the past and to the future.